But Samsung is going to be going online-only for the second Unpacked event of 2020. Instead of holding an Unpacked event at the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn, like it has for the past two years, in August. It is instead going to be going online-only. Like every other major tech event has been forced to do this year, thanks to the ongoing pandemic.

As of right now, this is a rumor, coming out of South Korean media. Samsung has not made it official just yet. And that may not happen for another month. As Samsung doesn’t usually send out invites for its events until about a month before the event.

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Unpacked is forced to be online-only, because mass gatherings are banned

So mass gatherings are banned in most places right now, due to the pandemic. Most areas you cannot gather more than 10 people. Which means that Samsung’s Unpacked event is basically done for, this year. As their events usually draw thousands of people.

And if you have been to any Unpacked events, you’ll know just how hard it is to move around inside the venue. It’s just that packed. So there’s no way that Samsung could do an event and adhere to CDC guidelines.

For those outside of the press, this doesn’t really make much of a difference for them. As Samsung always streams its Unpacked events anyways. So going online-only for Samsung Unpacked doesn’t really change much.

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Expect more than a Galaxy Note 20 at this event

Typically, Samsung launches more than just the Galaxy Note devices at this fall Unpacked event. It also will debut a few other devices like tablets, smartwatches, etc.

However, this year, it is expected that Samsung is going to unveil the Galaxy Fold 2. And possible the “lite” version as well. Which is said to cost around $1100. So this would likely be the biggest, online-only event of the year. Both in terms of how many will watch, but also in terms of the products announced. Especially since Google has cancelled Google I/O.

This is a new normal that we all have to live with, including Samsung. And we’re all still adapting to everything that’s going on in the world right now. But if this shows us one thing, it’s that companies don’t need to put on big huge events to announce their brand new products. An online-only event does the trick too.